Welcome to the launch of The 5th Annual Sore Eye Cup, an award for the best, regularly produced indie beer in San Diego! Last year was a resounding success, Tabula Rasa from Second Chance won. That, along with the only member of the Sore Eye Cup Hall of Fame, Speedway Stout, are the only two regularly produced, indie beers ineligible for this contest. You guys set records for nominations and votes last year, well done!

We will honor the winning craft beer with an actual cup! It will be a new cup this year, I’ll post pictures when it’s ready. At the announcement party we’ll fill it up with the winning beer and the winning brewery will drink from the cup right then, as is tradition! The winners can then bask in the glory of victory and have bragging rights for an entire year.

Here are the rules: beers nominated must be brewed here in San Diego County by a licensed, independent, craft brewery. They must be beers the brewery makes year round; seasonal, special versions, one offs, nitro versions and casks are not allowed. The beers do not need to be packaged (cans or bottles), just made all year long and available for growler fills (so we can buy some to judge). We’re looking for superior indie beers that are available to everyone in SD.

Nominate your favorite beer(s) by emailing me at Sore Eye Cup, tweet me (@SoreEyeSuds) , tag your nomination #SoreEyeCup in Twitter, comment on the post in Facebook, or comment right here on this post. Nominations are open until June 30th at 8pm. Voting down to the 10 finalist beers begins July 5th and runs to July 22nd at 8pm.

The top ten beers, as voted by you, the best people on earth, will be blind tasted/judged by our panel of 10. The judges range from craft beer enthusiasts to certified cicerones. We are truly looking for the best, regularly produced indie beer San Diego has to offer. The best craft beer, as chosen by us, will be awarded the esteemed Sore Eye Cup and receive all the prestige and glory one blog can bestow upon a brewery!

There will be an awesome party on August 5th, 12pm, at Quad Alehouse to celebrate the amazing indie/craft beer culture we have in San Diego and announce the 2017 winner of the Sore Eye Cup!

Can you believe it’s the 5th Sore Eye Cup?! It has been an amazing and humbling journey to recognize the excellence of the local, independent beer in San Diego! Last year you guys annihilated all records of beers nominated, votes gathered, and attendees of the announcement party. I am truly appreciative of every single person, business, and brewery that has participated in the contest in any way.

Here are some important dates to keep in mind as we move into Sore Eye Cup season:

June 16th (a week from Friday)- is the official launch and the time that you can begin nominating regularly produced, San Diego, #IndieBeer. This is also the day I will announce this year’s amazing sponsor!

June 30th – nominations close at 8pm

July 5th – voting begins! You’ll be able to vote for up to 5 beers per day. You’ll have to log in with a social media handle of some kind, this will help stave off the mischievous votes of years past and is probably the biggest change for the contest this year.

July 22nd – voting closes at 8pm – I’m not going to announce who made the final 10 beers to be judged publicly this year until judging has completed, another minor change to the Cup

July 29th – The Sore Eye Tour! This is where we physically go to all 10 breweries and purchase (yes, that’s right, we pay for the beer) each beer to be judged

July 30th – Judging happens and the winner is chosen by a panel of 10 judges!

August 1st – I announce who the 10 finalist beers are to the public

August 5th – The Sore Eye Cup announcement party!

Some reminders:

Beers nominated must be brewed here in San Diego County by a licensed, independent, craft brewery. They must be beers the brewery makes year round; seasonal, special versions, one offs, nitro versions, and casks are not allowed. The beers do not need to be packaged (cans or bottles), just made all year long and available for growler fills (so we can get some to judge). We’re looking for superior craft beers that are available to everyone in SD.

Two beers are ineligible for this year’s cup, last year’s champion, Tabula Rasa from Second Chance, and the only member of the Sore Eye Cup Hall of Fame, Speedway Stout from AleSmith.

These posts are where we dig into my phone and reflect on some of the awesome times I had. Maybe you were there for some; maybe you should try to be there this upcoming year, I do tend to have fun! It’s December 29th and I’m looking back to March. There’s no way I’ll finish the year this year but let’s see how many months I can get through today.

I started my own beer group in Facebook on March 1st after leaving a butt-load of other groups that had devolved into chaos. I have been astonished at how supportive and awesome of a group it has turned into. Want in? Friend me in the Facebook land.The same day I went to Societe, I do enjoy visiting this fine establishment. I had the Bachelor with Cascade and the Dandy, both were phenomenal.

On the 2nd, SD BeerTalk got a preview of Mikkeller, one of my favorite breweries to open this year.Ate at S&M on the 5th. So bummed they’re closed now. This was our favorite table, the Cage section.On the 6th I was honored to be a panel member of the SD Beer Forum. Here’s a shot of Giggles enjoying the situation.On the 8th we recorded a show with Bitter Brothers, another of my favorite 2016 breweries.This Hot Cuban from Havana Grill on the 10th was terrific, check them out if you get the chance!Got a s7 on the 11th. First thing I did was take a picture of my s5 that was on life support.First food pic with my s7, look, you can see the salt!Fig, adding cuteness to everyday.Pete is a great laundry inspector.Pho Hut & Grill hit the spot on the 14th

Recorded a show at Off Beat Brewing on the 21st. Man, that’s a drive from Normal Heights.Rudy celebrated 3 years of Craft Beerd, you’re damn right I bought the shirt and glass! Congrats again man!MVCBFF happened on the 26th and was the best festival I attended last year. All you can drink and eat, yes eat! You better hit up http://www.mvcbf.com/ and get your tickets right now! Photo cred to Tim Stahl!

So, that’s what I did in March, coupled with school (Beer Styles I), it was a full and super fun month. What did you do in March that was awesome?